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Under the Udala Trees (Paperback)

Staff Reviews

I fell in love with Okparanta's short stories a couple years ago and very much looked forward to her first novel. This book has a stunning voice and a heartbreaking story. Set in war-torn Nigeria, it explores Ijeoma's life and love. It is a book examining a lesbian relationship in the most unforgiving of circumstances but speaks to so much more. For fans of Americanah and The Fishermen. -Shane's February Staff Pick, 2016

I fell in love with Okparanta's short stories a couple years ago and very much looked forward to her first novel. This book has a stunning voice and a heartbreaking story. Set in war-torn Nigeria, it explores Ijeoma's life and love. It is a book examining a lesbian relationship in the most unforgiving of circumstances but speaks to so much more. For fans of Americanah and The Fishermen. -Shane's February Staff Pick, 2016

I fell in love with Okparanta's short stories a couple years ago and very much looked forward to her first novel. This book has a stunning voice and a heartbreaking story. Set in war-torn Nigeria, it explores Ijeoma's life and love. It is a book examining a lesbian relationship in the most unforgiving of circumstances but speaks to so much more. For fans of Americanah and The Fishermen.

Description

Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR * BuzzFeed * Bustle * Shelf Awareness * Publishers Lunch

" This] love story has hypnotic power."--The New Yorker

Ijeoma comes of age as her nation does. Born before independence, she is eleven when civil war breaks out in the young republic of Nigeria. Sent away to safety, she meets another displaced child and they, star-crossed, fall in love. They are from different ethnic communities. They are also both girls. But when their love is discovered, Ijeoma learns that she will have to hide this part of herself--and there is a cost to living inside a lie.

Inspired by Nigeria's folktales and its war, Chinelo Okparanta shows us, in "graceful and precise" prose (New York Times Book Review), how the struggles and divisions of a nation are inscribed on the souls of its citizens. "Powerful and heartbreaking, Under the Udala Trees is a deeply moving commentary on identity, prejudice, and forbidden love" (BuzzFeed).

"An important and timely read, imbued with both political ferocity and mythic beauty." -- Bustle

"A real talent. Under the Udala Trees is] the kind of book that should have come with a cold compress kit. It's sad and sensual and full of heat." -- John Freeman, Electric Literature